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Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Orthodox Union and the National Youth Leaders Conference. He will also attend a Foreign Relations Committee hearing at 9:00 AM EDT (7:00 MDT).

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

Writing in this morning’s Washington Post, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has a must-read op-ed outlining how Obamacare’s poor policy prescriptions will harm his state.  Among the bad side effects of the law:

•  100,000 people will be dropped by their employer-sponsored health insurance;
• 59 percent of people who buy their own health insurance will experience an average premium increase of 31 percent;
• 150,000 people will stop buying health insurance in the private sector and will instead become dependent on the government and taxpayers; and
• Between 2014 and 2019, Obamacare could cost Wisconsin taxpayers $1.12 billion; after all federal aid and tax credits are applied, the state’s portion of the bill will be $433 million.

These aren’t conclusions reached by Walker himself – they are among the conclusions of an actuarial analysis conducted in part by Jonathan Gruber, who served as a paid consultant to HHS in developing the Obamacare law.  And the fact that even supporters of Obamacare admit the law will raise both insurance premiums and dependence on government programs is as strong an argument as any for the measure’s repeal.

On Twitter

Here is my mobile office schedule for July.We invite all Utahns to take advantage of this great resource: ow.ly/bZXwo #utpol

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 9, 2012

.@asheschow what are we up to now? #LOST

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) July 12, 2012

@AllisonCroghan Love that you used Sen Lee's tweets in last night's newscast. Really shows that Fox 13 is innovative in their reporting

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) July 7, 2012

Jobs report "kind of disastrous", employment "not even keeping up with demographics": bit.ly/N4iVTv #ObamaIsntWorking #tcot #tlot

— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) July 6, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

Study: $15 trillion in welfare spending has had little impact since 1964

A policy analysis released by the Cato Institute in April shows that despite nearly $15 trillion in total welfare spending since President Lyndon Johnson began the "war on poverty" in 1964, the poverty rate in the United States has remained relatively constant.

Rising costs push California cities to fiscal brink

Facing the same financial stressors that pushed San Bernardino toward bankruptcy, cities across California are slashing day-to-day services and taking other drastic actions to skirt a similar fiscal collapse.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will be back in Utah to meet with constituents.

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Utah Metal Works. He will also attend a Judiciary hearing at 9:30 AM EDT (7:30 MDT) host a Jell-O bar for office visitors at 3:30 PM EDT (1:30 MDT).

From the Senator’s Desk

Courtesy of the Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee:

Last week, the New York Times reported on a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, which found that the number of women in their 40s obtaining mammograms declined “in the year after an expert panel’s recommendation that women delay regular breast cancer screenings until age 50.”  The “expert panel” in question is the US Preventive Services Task Force – referenced 21 different times in Obamacare, and granted the power by the law to set federal coverage standards for preventive coverage by insurers.

The Mayo study leads to the unsurprising conclusion that if a government board decides a treatment is not “approved,” people will receive less of that treatment.  Empowering a government board will decrease access to preventive care screenings, as insurance companies will likely follow the directives of a federally-backed panel.  So rather than keeping choices between patients and doctors, Washington has effectively short-circuited that process, because the rulings of a government board will lead insurance companies to stop covering preventive treatments.

Unfortunately, it’s not just access to mammograms that may be affected – prostate cancer screening may well be next.  Earlier this year, the US Preventive Services Task Force released its final recommendations regarding prostate cancer screening.  Even before the Task Force’s draft recommendations were issued last October, insurers were already re-evaluating whether or not to cover screening tests in light of the Task Force’s decision. 

Yet even as the recommendations from the Preventive Services Task Force have reduced the use of preventive care screenings, the Administration has been promoting “preventive services” elsewhere.  Over the past several months, HHS has been handing out grants from Obamacare’s prevention new “slush fund” to finance things like jungle gyms, bike paths, and crosswalks.  So when it comes to prevention funding from this Administration, the mantra appears to be “Mammograms, no; jungle gyms, yes!”

On Twitter

@SenateDems are obstructing a vote on President Obama's #tax plan that would raise taxes on almost 1 million small businesses. #tcot

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 11, 2012

.@SenateDems, why are you filibustering the President's signature tax plan? GOP is ready to vote. Stop the #obstruction.

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) July 11, 2012

.@SenMikeLee questioning at #Judiciary hearing on oversight of impact on competition of #patents bit.ly/w3rCIo #antitrust

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) July 11, 2012

Repealing #Obamacare got more votes from #Democrats than #Obama's own #budget. #ACA #tcot #tlot

— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) July 11, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

Another California city opts for bankruptcy

As recently as last month, no city in California had opted for bankruptcy since 2008, and no U.S. city of more than 200,000 people had ever chosen that route.

Report: Thousands fled Canada for health care in 2011

A Canadian study released Wednesday found that many provinces in our neighbor to the North have seen patients fleeing the country and opting for medical treatment in the United States.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Orthodox Union and the National Youth Leaders Conference. He will also attend two Foreign Relations Committee hearings.